


Close to you

by SleepyNightVale



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, M/M, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-11-09 06:45:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11099085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepyNightVale/pseuds/SleepyNightVale
Summary: Long ago, Orihime and Hikoboshi angered the Gods. As punishment, they were only allowed to meet once a year.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a retelling of the Naruto SD story that featured Gai and Kakashi getting married as Orihime and Hikoboshi from the story of Tanabata.

The legends say that when the Gods punished Orihime and Hikoboshi, cursed to be stars forever, they were able to meet once every year before they were sent back to their duties. 

The legends, Hikoboshi muses, only say that because the reality doesn’t make for a very good love story.

Once a year, they get closer together. 

But never close enough to touch.

At first, they are only close enough to see each other's vague figures.

Much later, they can make out each others' faces.

One year, they float 400 miles from each other, and for the first time in thousands of years, they can hear each other if they shout very loudly. 

The first thing Orihime does is joke that Hikoboshi has always been late. If he would only get his timing right they could get close enough to touch.

Hikoboshi is not insulted, and wracks his brain for something to say, while at the same time trying to savor the strong voice of his love.

In the end, he counters that Orihime has always been early. If she had waited just a minute longer to show up, if she wasn't so eager, they could be together again. 

One year, many, many years after they are able to faintly smell each other, Hikoboshi feels like they're finally close enough to brush against each other and he knows, he _knows_ that next year they can finally be together again. The gods have finally forgiven their insolence. 

But the next year, there's only one centimeter between them before they're shot off into space again. Their conversation that day is melancholy. Hikoboshi listens to Orihime’s tellings of her latest tailoring exploits and is filled with a longing he fears will kill him. 

The year after that is very much the same. Hikoboshi is devastated, but as Orihime moves away, she shouts that next year they'll be together again. She challenges him to move faster, stop being so lazy, and maybe he’ll be fast enough to reach her. Orihime pushes herself to be faster, to be stronger, to close the distance between herself and her love.

She can see, every year, the despair that Hikoboshi tries to keep hidden behind his calm, cool facade. Every year she resolves that next year, next year they will be together. Just a little further and they'll be in each other's arms again.

That next year, they are .999999 centimeters away from each other.

The year after that, .999998 centimeters.

The year after that, .999997.

Hikoboshi knows the Gods are just playing with them now. His anger spikes. His cows are flourishing. There are millions of them. Each well-loved, well-cherished, and more than likely able to fend for themselves for how well Hikoboshi has trained them. 

Surely he has more than made up for their earlier crimes.

Besides the one day a year he is able to see his love, his only solace is when the Gods visit him, wearing Orihime’s clothing. If Hikoboshi is feeling especially low that day, he thinks he can smell her. Hiding behind is recently acquired dirty book he pilfered from the God of Lust on his most recent visit, he leans close to the Goddess of Fortune, her brand new yukata shimmering in the light, and inhales deeply.

There. Just there. The sweet smell he hasn’t sensed on any of the gods. The scent he usually only smells once a year. It gives him a little comfort as he waits the 322 days before he can see his love again.

But sometimes, he worries.

Every year, they continue to get infinitesimally closer, and he fears that one day they will be shot away from each other for good. Every time they get close, he can swear he can feel Orihime, pulling him closer, though they cannot touch. But then the star he orbits, the cows he herds, his duty, drags him further and further away. 

For thousands of years he's had to wait, cursed to tend to his cows, with only a day’s worth of conversation, of sight, of smell, and sometimes the faint whiff of her that might not even be her, to tide him over. 

Sometimes, during his darkest, most lonely moments, when the cows are all asleep, the Gods are all away, and it is only him and his thoughts, he wishes he’d never met Orihime. The pain in his chest is sometimes so great he feels he would rather not see her ever again. If only to spare him the longing, the anticipation, only to have his hopes cruelly ripped away with Orihime’s words ringing in his ear.

_“We’ll be together soon, my love! Do not fear!”_

He does not tell Orihime about these thoughts.

One year, they are .2 centimeters away.

A few years after that, they are .1475869 centimeters away.

And then one year, they are a mere .1 centimeters away.

“I’ve never been this close to you, my love.”

Orihime’s smile is wide, and her large nose crinkles in a way that most people might consider unattractive. She plays around with make up with oftentimes hideous results. For someone who dresses the Gods and has a superior eye for fashion, she is way too fond of a jumpsuit that, while it hugs her curves in a way that never fails to make Hikoboshi feel faint, is a garish green that makes people turn their heads away.

Orihime is the most beautiful thing Hikoboshi has ever seen.

“You say that every year, my dear." Hikoboshi replies instead of the sappy things he's actually thinking. "I think it’s time to learn something new.”

In all honesty, they have had nearly the same conversation for thousands and thousands of years. Hikoboshi would happily have the same conversation every day for the rest of his life if he could just touch her.

But Orihime does not counter with their normal banter. Instead, she looks sad. Her glow dims a little, the green looking a little less vibrant. 

Hikoboshi is confused. Out of the two of them, he is the one who brings down the mood with his angsty feelings. Orihime is always so positive, so upbeat, she never fails to convince Hikoboshi that one day, one year, they will meet again.

“I fear, my love, that we shall continue this dance until the end of time. I’m sorry, I know I must be strong, but no matter how hard I work, I still can not reach you.”

Hikoboshi feels his calm, cool mask slip in the face of her hopelessness. 

He will not tolerate her feeling this way.

He needs to reach her.

He strains forward, fighting against the invisible barrier that keeps them apart. Thousands of years of desperation push him forwards. He struggles and he pushes and pushes and they’re so close, so close, _so close_. 

Orihime sees his efforts and joins him. She did not train for thousands of years just to be outmatched by her love! 

They’re so close, so close, but the Gods see their efforts, and before Hikoboshi and Orihime can touch, before they can just barely brush their fingers together, they are shot away.

The despair they feel is unparalleled. 

Years later, they still strain, every time, and every time they are flung away to their duties.

Until one year, Hikoboshi stretches out just far enough, Orihime strains just hard enough, and their fingers brush. 

When two stars collide, it creates an explosion that destroys anything near it. The Gods, before allowing their union, collect all of the cows and clothing, and finally, _finally_ the two lovers are allowed to become one.

A supernova of gas and dust fills the vast space the two lovers once called their prison. 

When two stars collide, they die.

Millions of light years away, in a small ninja village called Konoha, a woman with thick black hair gives birth to a baby boy.

She names him Gai. He's a little premature, a little weak, but her husband has hope that he will grow to be very strong, so she refuses to give up hope. 

A few years after that, Kakashi is born. He's late by two weeks, but this extra time will make him a genius, his mother tells his worried father, and a genius will make a fine shinobi.

When Gai first sees Kakashi, he feels something stirring in his chest. A pull. It drags him forward. He wants to face Kakashi. He wants to challenge him. He tries to ignore it. He must be stronger. He can't face a genius. But one day, Kakashi looks at him, _sees him_ and he knows. He's ready to face him.

Kakashi is Gai's eternal rival. Gai can feel it. They were made for each other in a way Gai can't quite articulate. But it makes his chest hurt and makes him want to push push push so he can finally reach his rival. 

When two stars collide, they die.

When things die, they are reborn.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When two stars collide, they die.
> 
> When things die, they are reborn.
> 
> Gai and Kakashi have their happily ever after.

The first time they kiss, it is after a particularly bad mission that Kakashi and Gai barely make it back from.

They’re in the hospital, chakra exhaustion making Kakashi take longer than Gai to heal. The seventh gate hadn’t been kind to him, but Gai’s finding it easier to recover the more he practices. He is walking around the hospital after only four days of bed rest. 

“You look like shit,” Kakashi says when Gai visits him. It’s pretty rich coming from the one who’s still stuck in bed. Gai tells him so.

“Mah,” Kakashi brushes off the insult and tries to sit up. Gai immediately rushes over to reorganize his pillows. He’s surprised when Kakashi lets him. “They say I’ll be out in a few more days. I’m still feeling a little weak.”

Gai knows Kakashi does not like to admit to his true condition. He feels a sharp stab of gratitude that Kakashi drops this one wall with him.

“Well, my rival!” Gai says when Kakashi is settled, “When you’re feeling up to the task, we shall celebrate our brush with death with a rousing challenge. It’s just what one needs to get the youthful sprit flowing following such a rigorous mission! I believe it is your turn to deci-”

“Gai.”

Gai stops. At some point during is speech, Kakashi had managed to lean forward, way into his personal space. The surgical mask has been removed and Gai’s eyes zero in on the little mole just underneath Kakashi’s mouth before they flick up to his one open eye.

He’s seen Kakashi without his mask exactly four times, and 3 of those 4 were an accident.

Kakashi’s eyes are blacker than his own. They’re so close he can see his reflection.

His lips are a little chapped. Gai notes a faint tan line starting just beneath his eye.

They're so close he can see a spattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose.

Gai holds his breath.

They’re so close.

_“I’ve never been this close to you, my love.”_

Gai doesn’t know why the words pop into his head. He doesn’t know why he has to bite his tongue to keep them from escaping. 

Kakashi blinks and leans ever closer. Their lips are only the barest hint away from touching. 

Gai doesn’t know why, but he feels like this is Important. Like this is the first time they have ever been near each other. It’s an irrational thought, and it buzzes away when Kakashi presses his lips to his own.

When Kakashi pulls away, he looks satisfied. Like he knows he won’t be rejected, like he knows they were made for this. That this is Right.

Gai can’t even muster the energy to scold Kakashi for being an insufferable genius yet again. Gai feels satisfied in a way he’s never felt before. Like a puzzle piece has slipped into place, only he didn’t know it was missing in the first place. 

Kakashi still has that smug look on his face, which means that Gai needs to bring him down a peg with a hot blooded challenge. 

But instead, he just pulls him forward, and tries to fit more puzzle pieces into their places. 

***

Gai is the first to die. 

He dies with glory, with honor. The 8th gate has taken her next victim, and he proudly welcomes his destiny. His only regret is that Kakashi must be without him for a little while.

But eternal means eternal. He will see Kakashi again.

When the bright red burning of his skin and blood turns into a bright white light against the black of space, Gai Remembers. 

The Gods need him. Their clothes are in tatters. They’ve been kind enough to give Gai and Kakashi their respite, but now he must return to his duties.

When he asks where Kakashi is, they tell him he has a few more years to enjoy his time. Gai doesn't think of it as a kindness.

So Gai takes the measurements, and sews the garments, and runs the shop.

And he waits.

He waits for Kakashi. 

He waits for Hikoboshi.

He can only wait.

The cows have become all but extinct. When there are only two left, a male and a female, the Gods call Kakashi back to create a new herd. 

In the distance, Gai can see the brightest, most beautiful star form.

If he sits very still, he reckons he can feel its light brush his own.

And they begin their dance again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Hope you like the conclusion to this little story. Thanks so much for your comments, they truly mean the world to me :)

**Author's Note:**

> First Naruto fic. Let me know how you feel. I hope I did these characters justice! Yes there will be more actual kakagai in the next chapter.
> 
> Shoot me a line on tumblr! Find me as icantbelieveilikenaruto


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